


a breath away from death

by muiithecat



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels, Angel of Death Corpse Husband, Angst, Cancer, Christianity, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Guardian Angel Sykkuno, Medical Inaccuracies, Mentions of Cancer, Minor Character Death, OOC, Wingfic, kinda slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muiithecat/pseuds/muiithecat
Summary: Sykkuno is a guardian angel who has protected Rae ever since she was born. When she's about to die from stage 4 cancer and Corpse (an angel of death) comes to take her soul, he makes a decision that will change him forever.
Relationships: Corpse Husband & Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF), Rachel "Rae" Hofstetter & Sykkuno
Comments: 11
Kudos: 61





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hello! welcome to breath away from death. this fic deals with heavy stuff such as death and fatal sickness, so if you're uncomfortable with that, please don't read!  
> also, i haven't written RPF since my s*ptiplier days, and RPF has made me kinda uncomfortable since then, which is why this fic is purely platonic. although, if you wish, you can read this as pre-relationship.  
> please, please! do! not! think that corpse and sykkuno will actually get together! they are just friends! the only reason i've written this is because i love their dynamic.
> 
> tw for this fic: minor character death, fatal sickness, cancer, and more (i just haven't written it yet)

The stark white hospital room was jarring and anxiety-inducing. The heart monitor beeped steadily as Sykkuno paced the small room, biting his nails and fidgeting with his angelic weapon. His human, who he’s sworn to protect her entire life, was currently laying in the hospital bed, slowly dying from cancer. The hospital was almost her second home for the past 6 months, with no sign of recovering. She had caught it late, which meant the cancer cells had spread from her lungs to other parts of her body. To Sykkuno, This was heartbreaking - she was practically his daughter because he watched her grow. Her name was Rachel, Rae for short, and Sykkuno had been with her for her entire life, from the day she was born and assigned to him, to now. She was still young - only 28 years old. 

Sykkuno never revealed himself to her (as it was against the rules) but he swore that she could sense him. She knew _someone_ had her back, even if she couldn’t see them. It was a bit jarring to be doing your invisible job and then suddenly someone mentions you in passing. He always passed his hand over her eyes just in case, but she luckily never reacted to it.

In case you weren’t sure, Sykkuno was Rae’s guardian angel. Albeit, a very awkward one. He never really got the whole ‘socialization’ thing down quite right, which meant he made every conversation he was in with other angels awkward. It was like he was cursed with being unable to hold a conversation. This also meant he had no friends, which was unfortunate because it made for a very boring guardianship. Sure, he had a job to protect Rae, but not being able to talk to her got old very quickly. Sometimes he would talk to himself for entertainment, but most of the time he just clung close to Rae and was interested in everything she was doing.

For a long time, she did streaming for a living. Sykkuno didn’t really understand the appeal of talking to a camera while playing a video game and responding to ‘chat’, but he watched every time she streamed. He didn’t think he would’ve been very good at it. Unfortunately, over time, she got sicker and sicker, and couldn’t stream anymore. She was in bed most days with her closest friends close by. She got into a major depression, but she stuck through it until now.

Now, she looked just - so _sad._

Sykkuno walked close to the hospital bed and gently grabbed the railing. Her thin hair was messily haloed around her head against the pillow. Her face, once full and beautiful, was now stark and boney. She looked so sick. Her body was frail. Her eyes fluttered in her sleep. Her body was prepared for death.

And yet, Sykkuno didn’t want her to die.

He knew her death was soon. _Very_ soon. Some kind guardians had already expressed their condolences to him - albeit awkwardly. He appreciated it, really, but the problem was that Sykkuno was _determined_ to keep her alive and well. And he would fight _anyone_ who got in the way of that.

Which is why, when he sensed that a dark heavenly presence was summoned into the hallway outside the door, he hid against the wall next to the door, prepared to fight.


	2. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ENTER Corpse from stage left. Sykkuno and Corpse have a small fight.  
> the art is made by me! you can come visit me on tumblr here https://muiithecat.tumblr.com/

In a large gust of black smoke, Corpse was suddenly summoned outside of a hospital room. The hallway he was summoned into was long, and white, and cyan, with brown doors scattered along it. The big rectangular ceiling lights were slightly dim, which made everything look slightly more dreary. Colorful modern art was clearly put as a distraction of that, but instead, it was like a clown at a funeral. Nurses and caretakers were busy checking into rooms, quickly wheeling supplies up and down the hallway, and talking to each other about their patients and their personal lives. The bustling and depressing hospitals he was constantly summoned into was a regular scene. 

He looked side to side, and then finally at the door to the room. He could clearly see the glowing soul that he was meant to take through the wall, and he could also detect a heavenly force. A guardian angel to deal with was extremely common, and they were almost always a pain to get rid of. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and opened the door - only to be greeted with a heavenly axe at his neck.

He met the eyes of his attacker, and instantly knew he was somewhat harmless. Corpse had never met this guardian before, but he could tell the guardian didn’t really understand what he was doing; His fists were so tight around the glowing hilt that his knuckles were white, and his expression was determined but terrified.

“Drop your weapon,” said Corpse, his deep and raspy voice filling the room. “Or else I’ll have to use mine.”

Most of Corpse’s face was obscured by a black face mask to hide what lay beneath, but his eyes were hard and intimidating. His black curly hair framed his face under the hood of his cloak. Corpse’s dark cloak was long and reached to his ankles, and he hid many weapons in it. All of the weapons were to defend the souls he was carrying to the afterlife, just in case things went awry. His wings were similar to a crow’s, with sharp primary feathers. They were out slightly, just to give an impression of being bigger than his guardian opponent.

The heavenly weapon he carried had a long shaft with a long curved downward blade at the top, similar to a scythe. It was entirely white, and softly glowing. All heavenly weapons were pure white and glowing, including the guardian’s, which looked like a battle axe.

The guardian himself was an inch shorter than he was, and had black fluffy hair across his forehead, a green and dark green striped scarf wrapped loosely around his neck, and was wearing a comfortable light blue sweater and black jeans. His white and light green fluffy wings were tight against his back from stress, and the primary feathers softly ghosted the floor.

“I-I won’t let you take her. I won’t!” The guardian stuttered, saying it twice as if to reassure himself. The blade grew closer to his neck, and Corpse could feel it beginning to cut into his skin. He grunted in annoyance, and swiftly took out his weapon from beneath his cloak.

Corpse swung the weapon out as a warning, and the guardian quickly stepped back to avoid it. The guardian was definitely trained in fighting, but Corpse assumed he hadn’t fought anyone in quite some time. The guardian swung his axe out, but Corpse quickly blocked it with the shaft of his scythe.

The fighting continued, until suddenly the guardian was on the cold tiled floor, pinned by Corpse.

Corpse’s left eye was softly glowing purple, and his brow was furrowed. He was sweating and breathing hard, but he was smirking under his mask. The guardian squirmed, intent on getting out of Corpse’s grasp.

“G-get off!” The guardian grumbled, desperately trying to grab hold of Corpse’s arms.

“If you’ll let me do my job, I will. Otherwise, get comfortable.” The guardian sighed with frustration, and stared daggers into Corpse’s eyes. 

“You can’t take her. She’s so young... she has so much of her life ahead of her,” The guardian mumbled, looking to the side. He had tears in his eyes forming, but he quickly blinked them away.

“Guardian-,” Corpse began, but the guardian interrupted him.

“My name is Sykkuno.”

“-Sykkuno,” Corpse began again, “I need you to understand that she _needs_ to be taken. If she is kept alive, others will die in her place. Do you want that?”

“Of course not! But I have no choice. If others have to die in her place but she is kept alive, then so be it!” A single tear ran down Sykkuno’s face.

Corpse was taken aback. Who knew a guardian angel would be so heartless? However, he thought about it for a moment. Sykkuno was _desperate_ for his human to live. Also, Corpse had never seen him before. Sykkuno must have been new to being a guardian, and got attached. It was unfortunate, but it was common. Those types of guardians were the worst to get out of the way of his job, and this one, in particular, was an absolute pain in the _ass._

Corpse, in retaliation, decided to teach the guardian a lesson.

Corpse sighed.

“If that is your choice, then you will live it. See how it betrays you.”


	3. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ENTER Rae. Corpse and Sykkuno explain some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I wrote basically this entire chapter at like 2-4 am so if you see any mistakes please tell me and I'll fix it. if the dialogue is hard to understand who's talking then I'll try to specify more.  
> speaking of dialogue, this is a very heavily dialogue chapter, and they also discuss a lot of lore that is important to know for the rest of the fic.  
> i meant to post this on Wednesday but I was super busy and couldn't write so I apologize about that, but the chapter is out now so it's fine :)  
> I think this chapter is longer than the previous ones, which I'm happy about because I have a difficult time writing long chapters.  
> nothing all that bad happens in this chapter but they do mention death a bit and describes a very sickly complexion.  
> almost forgot to mention, go look at last chapter! there's something new there that I think you'll like :)

_ See how it betrays you. _

In shock, Sykkuno was helped up by Corpse. Although he was determined in his choice, Corpse’s words made him falter and slightly worry...

…But it couldn’t be  _ that _ bad, could it?

However, Corpse decided to make it worse.

“Sykkuno, there is something you need to know about what’s about to happen.”

“G-go on?”

“In order for me to revive her, there is a deal that needs to be made.”

“What's the deal?”

“Once I revive her, the person that got her to be revived needs to take five souls in return.”

“What?!” Sykkuno put his hand to his mouth in shock.

Corpse looked regretful, but continued on. “I’m sorry, but that’s the rule. Do you still want to do this, Sykkuno?”

Sykkuno faltered as he thought about the rule.

_ Five souls in return of one. _

“S-so.. w-what does that entail, exactly?” Sykkuno stuttered.

“This hasn’t been done in a very long time so I don’t know the exact details, but I’m assuming that you’ll have to follow me around and take the five souls instead of me doing it. I have a list, so if we’re going through with this, I’ll give it to you.”

“Oh God,” Sykkuno whispered under his breath. Was he getting over his head with this? Not only did he have to take  _ five human lives, _ but he had to follow an angel of death around, too. Angels of death usually sucked all of the happiness out around them because of their morbid jobs. Sykkuno was usually friendly and happy to be here, so hanging out with the embodiment of death wouldn’t be fun  _ at all _ .

But, he was doing this for Rae…

Sykkuno sighed deeply. He rolled the contract around in his thoughts for a moment. Finally, he came to a decision.

“I’ll do it.”

Corpse’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

Sykkuno hesitated for a moment. “Y-yes?”

Corpse looked at him as if he had suddenly grown another head. Then, he rolled his eyes, sighed, and turned to where Rae laid.

Sykkuno worried his lip as he watched Corpse walk over to the hospital bed. Corpse gently put his right hand onto Rae’s pale forehead and closed his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, and then suddenly light was protruding from underneath his veiny hand. Corpse quietly grunted - the effort of bringing someone back from near-death was taxing.

Sykkuno saw that Rae was beginning to look healthier and healthier. Her face was now full, her hair was thick and healthy, and she generally didn’t look like a skeleton anymore. The cancer was completely gone. When she only looked tired, Corpse staggered back away from her and collapsed. His hands shook and his breathing was heavy, but he weakly looked up to Sykkuno and said:

“I hope you’re happy.”

Sykkuno ignored him and ran to the side of the hospital bed, and his fluffy wings slightly fluttered in excitement. As Rae gained consciousness, her eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on the room. She furrowed her brows and slowly looked around without moving her head as she got her bearings after sleeping for a long time.

After about a minute, she started to shift, and eventually, she sat up. She looked a little bewildered, and she looked like she was beginning to be more coherent. She looked around properly, and then finally looked down at her hands. Confused, she noticed they weren’t boney and pale anymore. Then, she slowly reached up and pulled the respirator away from her face. She tested a few inhales and exhales, and realized she could breathe completely fine without it.

“ _ What the fuck _ ?” She muttered under her breath. She tossed the blankets off of her legs and turned to sit on the side of the bed. She looked at her hands again, turning them over and over. She touched her face, and felt that her face was full and no longer boney. Then, she muttered, “What  _ the hell _ happened?”

Meanwhile, Corpse and Sykkuno were arguing about what to do. 

“We need to explain to her what happened,” Said Corpse.

“How?! Showing ourselves is against the code!” Sykkuno worried.

“Well.. what if we do it  _ anyway _ ?”

“No way. Nuh-uh. Not happening.”

“Sykkuno, if we don’t explain what happened to her, her mind will break by trying to reason it out.” Corpse deadpanned.

“O-oh.”

“Yeah - and we clearly don’t want that!”

“O-okay, so.. How do we explain it to her?”

Corpse shrugged, his veiny hands raised from within his cloak. Sykkuno brushed his hair to the side with frustration, his body buzzing with anxiety.

“How about… I appear and explain it to her, and once I mention you, you can appear as well, just so we don’t overwhelm her?” Sykkuno thought, his head tilted to the side.

“That is  _ exactly _ how we overwhelm her.”

“Well, what idea do you have that’s better than that?” Sykkuno huffed, his arms crossed. Corpse stayed awkwardly silent, trying to think of something on the spot.

“O-okay, yeah, we can do that,” Corpse sighed.

Sykkuno then turned to Rae, who was still extremely perplexed. He was suddenly super nervous - this was the first time talking to her, anyway. Not including the times he’d talk to her one-sided because he was lonely.

Maybe he’d… pretend he walked through the door?

_ No, that’s stupid! _

Maybe he’ll just appear and hope she won’t scream?

_ She’ll definitely scream. Have you ever seen her play a horror game? _

Lost in thought, he suddenly heard Corpse yelling at him. “Sykkuno! Earth to Sykkuno?”

“W-what?”

“What are you doing? Just talk to her!”

Sykkuno gulped and turned back to Rae. He braced himself, and finally made himself visible to Rae.

Rae, who was in the middle of an existential crisis, suddenly saw someone appear in her peripheral vision. She whipped her head around and screamed, crawling backward on the bed in fear.

When did this man get into her room? And why the fuck did he have wings?!

“P-please stop screaming!” The man said, waving his hands around, panicked.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”

“My name is Sykkuno, I’m your guardian angel!”

“WHAT?!”

“Oh Jesus,” He mumbled.

_ Why did he expect anything less? _

“Am I  _ dead _ ?” Rae asked, her eyebrows high in fear.

“N-no! Of course not!” Sykkuno said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “The reason I’m here, talking to you, is that I need to explain what just happened to you.”

“Are you the reason I’m healthy again?” Rae said, her voice uncertain. 

“Um, yes! Partially, at least,” He said. Then, he mumbled, “The only thing I really did was get someone to revive you for me.”

“Wait, what? Why did you revive me? Wait, I was gonna  _ die _ and you  _ saved _ me?”

Sykkuno awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed. “Uhm, yeah. I didn’t want you to be taken from me,” Sykkuno said, blushing from embarrassment. “I’ve watched you and protected you ever since you were born. Why wouldn’t I protect you now?”

Rae hesitantly put her hand on top of his. It was warm. “Sykkuno… thank you. Thank you so much - but why would you prevent me from my inevitable death from this stupid cancer?” Her dark brown eyes were sad and confused.

Sykkuno suddenly stood up and took his hand away from Rae’s. “Why wouldn’t I? It’s my job, is it not?”

“I-I guess?”

“You’re like… you’re like a daughter to me.” Sykkuno looked away, not wanting to see her reaction. Corpse looked supportive.

“Sykkuno, I might be wrong on this, but wouldn’t that have consequences? Cause, like, I’m pretty sure I was meant to die today. You shouldn’t mess with fate like that.”

Sykkuno met the eyes of Corpse, and nodded. “I’d like for you to meet someone. He’s the one that revived you. Please don’t freak out, okay? He’s kind of scary looking, but that’s only because he’s-an-angel-of-death-okay-now-Corpse!”

“Wait - what?”

Corpse was now visible to Rae, and she squeaked when he appeared. “Holy shit! I’m never gonna get used to that.”

“Hello,” Corpse curtly said. Rae’s eyes widened at the sound of his voice and backed up a bit at his appearance. “My name is Corpse.”

“No shit,” Rae said breathily, still shocked.

“Rae, this is Corpse. He’s the one who revived you, and also.. Well.. he’s an angel of death.”

Rae chuckled. “Wow, how ironic. An angel of death reviving someone?”

“Sykkuno made me do it when I came to take your soul,” Corpse explained. Rae’s eyes widened, but she raised her hand to shake his in impressed awe.

“Nice to meet you, I guess,” Corpse just stared at her hand, not knowing what to do with it. She awkwardly put it down after a while and cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m assuming you’re here to explain the consequences of me being alive?”

“Yes. Sykkuno, the menace, is being forced to take five human souls in return for reviving one. I don’t know why, but it’s a heavenly rule.”

“Why  _ the hell _ did he accept those conditions?!”

“I-I’m still here, y’know,” Sykkuno butted in.

“We know, Sykkuno. Anyway, he was so desperate to revive you that he probably would’ve accepted anything,” Corpse deadpanned. Rae looked at Sykkuno with bewilderment.

“Why are you so adamant to keep me alive, Sykkuno? I’m just a random human, while you’re an awesome guardian angel that probably battles demons or something.”

“I care about you, Rae. Ever since I was human, I remember being extremely protective of my loved ones. You’re one of them.”

“Wait - you were human?”

“A lot of angels are. Many angels die in battle, so in order to have a constant stream of angels, some good humans are turned into different types of angels when they die. Although, it's only with certain human traits. You probably would’ve gone to heaven like most humans.”

Rae pouted, secretly wanting to become an epic angel like the ones stood in front of her.

Corpse remained silent, not wanting to reveal anything about himself to them. Corpse knew he was human at some point, but he barely remembered anything from it. He didn’t even remember what his name used to be. It was unfortunate, but it didn’t matter anymore to him. All he needed to know at this point was where the souls were and where to take them.

“So, Sykkuno - you watched over me, right? Why was I able to get injured and stuff if you were protecting me?” Rae asked.

“Guardian angels are mostly there to protect your soul from being corrupted by a demon. We can’t protect you from everything - it’s a rule that we can’t stop you from getting hurt in a human way,” Sykkuno answered honestly. Rae nodded, deep in thought.

“If angels and demons exist, does that mean there’s a God?”

“We don’t really know. I suppose so, but I’m not sure. Even angels debate if He exists.”

“We’re more the same than different, huh?”

“Uh - yeah, I guess,” Sykkuno smiled, his hand covering it out of habit he got from his human years. Rae tilted her head, confused by the action.

“Why’d you cover your smile?” She said softly.

Sykkuno, who hadn’t realized he had even done that, looked at his hand in surprise, blushing. “Oh, well, um, I think it was a habit I had when I was human. It transferred over to now, I guess.”

Sykkuno’s human memories were spotty at best. He knew he died somewhat recently (if you counted multiple decades as recent) but time didn’t really affect your memory. His memories that he  _ did _ have were as if they were smudged or blurred. However, he still had his habits and speech patterns from back when he was a human.

Corpse butted in. “I know you both are enjoying your conversation, but we need to wrap this up. We have souls to take to heaven.”

“O-oh yeah!” Sykkuno exclaimed. He glanced at Rae apologetically. “Sorry, Rae. Maybe I’ll get to see you later.”

“Wait! What should I do? It’s gonna look extremely weird if I walk out of this room completely healthy when the nurses and doctors have seen me decrepit looking just this morning.”

“Uh… just go home, I guess. Pretend you aren’t Rae?” Corpse supplied.

“Yeah, I’ll just walk out of here as if I wasn’t on my deathbed like an hour ago,” Rae said sarcastically. 

“Exactly!”

Rae facepalmed. “How the hell would that work?”

“Just… walk out the door?”

“Ugh, whatever. You guys are useless. I’ll figure it out once you both leave to do your jobs, I guess.”

Corpse, glad for the clear out, heads for the door. “C’mon Sykkuno, let’s go. We’ve got souls to take.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
